SINGAPORE - Societies that may be used for unlawful purposes, threaten Singapore’s safety and security, or whose activities are contrary to the Republic’s national interests, are not allowed to establish themselves here.

But with the evolving geopolitical landscape, Singapore will need more levers to guard against such threats, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.

Parliament passed the Societies (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, enacting changes to the Societies Act that will enable Singapore to better guard against such groups.

The changes aim to strengthen the registration process and give more powers to the Registrar of Societies to ask questions and weed out suspicious applications.

Previously, applications to register societies were processed by either the normal or the automatic route.

Applications for societies related to religion, ethnicity, language and politics, which are known as specified societies, go through the normal route.

This means a vetting and assessment process, which may involve several rounds of clarifications with applicants.

All other societies are registered automatically when they submit an application and pay the prescribed fees – no questions asked.

In her speech in Parliament on the Bill on Wednesday, Ms Sun said there have been about 1,400 applications in the last five years, with about half of them submitted via the automatic route.

She said there were instances where the registrar needed information to ascertain whether applications under this route did not fall within the sensitive categories listed in the Act.

But it could not do so, as the Act previously did not allow the registrar to ask questions.

Ms Sun added that even if an application did not fall under the sensitive categories, it could still be of concern. And yet, the registrar previously had no authority to reject such applications.

She gave a hypothetical example of how a group of individuals with antecedents of concern may try to set up a society to advocate for the interests of a racial group.

Ms Sun said the individuals would know that if they were to set up a society promoting the interests of a particular race, they would have to do so via the normal route.

The registrar would be able to scrutinise their application, and ask questions to clarify their objectives and leadership composition.

She said: “To avoid being questioned, this group tries to set up a society with an innocuous aim, such as a history interest group.”

Ms Sun said that in such a scenario, the law previously would have enabled such a group to get approval immediately.

But the amendments will now enable the registrar to ask questions and reject such applications.

Those rejected may appeal to the Minister for Home Affairs, and, if rejected again, may then launch a judicial review.

Other administrative matters that the amendments cover include allowing the registrar, instead of the Minister for Home Affairs, to declare a person unfit to be an officer of a society.

The sections of the Act dealing with offences have also been updated by the amendments, increasing the fine quantum, and allowing for the registrar to compound offences as an alternative to charging offenders in court.

Ms Sun said the review of the penalties was necessary to ensure the deterrent effect of the laws, as the last review of the Societies Act was in 2004.

Workers’ Party MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) asked if there had been applications that were approved via the automatic route that should not have been approved because they posed a security threat.

Ms Sun said there have not been any such approvals, but there were three applications that were submitted via the automatic route that had raised concerns, as the applicants had some antecedents.

The applicants, however, for reasons unknown, did not pursue their applications to completion, said Ms Sun.

She added that for operational reasons, she was unable to share further details about the applications.

Mr Giam, Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok) had also asked questions in relation to application rejections.

Ms Sun said that in the past five years, a total of 53 applications were rejected, making up 3.7 per cent of all applications.

She said the applications were rejected for various reasons.

She said: “An application may be rejected if the society is likely to be used for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial to public peace, welfare or good order in Singapore. Or that it would be contrary to national security or interest for the society to be registered.”

Ms Sun added that the amendments were necessary for Singapore to remain relevant amid the regional and global landscape.

She said: “We have seen geopolitical tensions, we have seen the possibility of foreign interference through various entities. We’ll have to make sure that we have the levers, and that societies are not used for purposes that are prejudicial to good order, security, peace and harmony in Singapore.”